PRINCES KATHERINE C.

VERGARA- LLB 1 TERM PAPER ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Duties in Relation to Human Rights No man is an island, as the old saying goes. This means that we humans cannot survive separately from others. We depend on each other for the simplest reasons such as the acquisition of food or for mutual protection. Individually, we may depend on each other for companionship. On a larger scale, it may be illustrated by the economy or the cooperation between nations. One must give in order to gain and vice-versa. This cycle of giving and taking is what makes our society work and ensures the continuity of our species. Society is defined in dictionary.com as a highly structured system of human organization for large-scale community living that normally furnishes protection, continuity, security and a national identity for its members. In simpler terms, society requires its members specific contributions for it to sustain itself. Without these contributions, the community will collapse. These group dynamics are applicable to any human society, regardless of race, geographical location, or religious belief. Therefore, an individual is required to play an active role in its community, otherwise be kicked-out and perish. These roles involve duties and responsibilities to be performed by the member. Likewise, society in turn provides for the individuals needs. As more and more members are absorbed into the group, it grows and gets more complicated. New roles need to be filled out. As requirements and output increase, a certain society may develop into what we know now as community units. The Duties Arising from Individual Human Rights The most commonly recognized community unit is the state. It is a politically unified people that occupy a particular territory. This political unification among the people is what forms the Government, which is the most powerful body that oversees the preservation of the state. However, in applying the principles mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the Government must provide protection to the individuals that compose it to assure its existence. The best illustration of this protection provided by the state to its members is the individual human rights. The International Council on Human Rights Policy best explains the relationship between rights and duties in its comments:
_____________________________ International Council on Human Rights Policy (Significance of Article 29 of UDHR)

PRINCES KATHERINE C. VERGARA- LLB 1 TERM PAPER ON HUMAN RIGHTS

The main purpose of international human rights standards is to protect the individual, usually against the arbitrary exercise of State power. It does not follow from this, however, that human rights standards attach absolute importance to individual preferences or give no consideration to the legitimate needs of society. We will see that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the two International Covenants on human rights, and other key human rights documents attach considerable importance to individual duties and that their authors were very conscious of the relationship between human rights and individual duties. Before we examine these documents more closely, however, we should explain what we mean by individual duties. An individual duty can be understood in different ways. A duty can be a legal obligation to pay taxes, or to perform military service. A duty can also be an ethical obligation, for example a duty to tell the truth, or to be faithful to ones spouse. These ethical obligations are moral rules that individuals feel bound to follow because obeying them is good and not obeying them is bad. Morality will vary between different individuals, and between different societies, though there is much common ground about basic ethical obligations. For example, most individuals and most social codes are in agreement in saying that it is good to be truthful, good to do what you can to help others, and good to treat others as you would like to be treated. By international human rights standards, there are three types of individual duties: first is the duty of individuals vested with state authority to respect, promote and protect human rights; duties on individuals to exercise their rights responsibly; and more general duties an individual has to its society. These duties are embodied in Article 29 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR): (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. The UDHR and the comments of the International Council make it clear that these rights are not absolute. It obviously follows the three types of individual duties.
_____________________________ International Council on Human Rights Policy (Significance of Article 29 of UDHR)

PRINCES KATHERINE C. VERGARA- LLB 1 TERM PAPER ON HUMAN RIGHTS

The freedom of speech does not allow a person to slander or libel someone. Freedom of the press does not allow a journalist to publish military secrets or push their readers to violence. The freedom to equality cannot be pursued to the point wherein another suffers inequality. In such cases, the state is empowered to limit such rights as it find necessary, if ever the exercise of them be irresponsible or prejudicial to national interest or another individuals rights. For example, the state may restrict the freedom of expression to ensure respect of the rights and reputation of others. Aside from the legal duty of the state to do so, this may also overlap with ethical duties. In summary and in accordance with the second type of individual rights, that for a person to impose his rights against another, he must first fulfill his duty to exercise those rights responsibly. What defines fulfilling duties responsibly depends on the state limitations on the exercise of these rights. Embodiment of Individual Duties in Philippine Society The individual also has general duties to perform in its community. In the state scenario, these can be found in legal documents. Such legal duties may be as simple as paying taxes or rendering military service. Here in the Philippines, the 1987 Constitution contain duties that may be required of its citizens. One good example is Article I, Section 4: Article II, Section 4. The prime duty of the Government is to serve and protect the people. The Government may call upon the people to defend the State and, in the fulfillment thereof, all citizens may be required, under conditions provided by law, to render personal, military or civil service. It is well accepted in any democratic country that its citizens must be free from involuntary servitude. However, as illustrated above, the state may compel an individual to render service if it is called for in order to preserve national security and identity. In domestic legislation, no other law best exemplifies the duties imposed by the state and embodies Article 29 of the UDHR better than Article 19 of the Civil Code of the Philippines: Article 19: Every person, in the exercise of his rights and in the performance of his duties, act with justice, give everyone his due, and observe honesty and good faith. In local legislation, duties may be imposed by local government units, such as garbage segregation laws.

_____________________________ International Council on Human Rights Policy (Significance of Article 29 of UDHR)

PRINCES KATHERINE C. VERGARA- LLB 1 TERM PAPER ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Significance of Article 29 of the UDHR Records show that Article 29 was clearly considered by its drafters to be one of the most important articles in the Universal Declaration. The issue of individual duties, as well as the relationship between rights and duties, was considered frequently during the drafting process. In addition, the debates reveal key areas of agreement about the Articles application and significance. First of all, there was widespread agreement that the UNs first human rights statement should refer to individual duties as well as rights. Article 29(1) was not an aside or an add-on provision but was fundamental to the conception of the Universal Declaration. As we have seen, it was originally Article 2 in the draft, and the fact that it is now located at the end of the text does not reduce its importance. Efforts to remove a separate reference to individual duties were roundly rejected. Second, Article 29(1) affirmed that individuals have general duties. These were understood to be additional to duties that might arise in the exercise of particular rights. Efforts to argue that the reference to these general duties could be dropped, or that it would be adequate to list the legitimate grounds for restricting rights, were not successful. Third, the language of Article 29(1) was intended to capture the idea that it is not adequate to proclaim individual rights without regard to the social environment in which they are exercised. Because people exercise their rights in society, it was necessary also to stress their duties. However, Article 29(1) does not explicitly indicate what precise individual duties to the community it is meant to include. The debates during drafting show there was discussion, but not agreement, on such duties as loyalty to the State and to the United Nations, share of common sacrifices, obedience to law, exercise of a useful activity, willing acceptance of obligations and sacrifices demanded for the common good, to respect the rights of their fellow men, and to accept the just claims of the State. Some of these examples suggest the drafters had in mind legal duties (e.g. obedience to law, the just claims of the State). On the other hand, the eventual decision was to stress that duties are to the community (no the State). In summary, duties and rights come hand-in-hand. For an individual to use such rights provided to him by the community he lives in, he must fulfill a duty in return. Human society is again a continuous give-and-take cycle, and such cycle is necessary for the harmonious and continuous existence among its people and to avert chaos and collapse. Society must impose such duties to preserve not just itself, but also the individual in return.

_____________________________ International Council on Human Rights Policy (Significance of Article 29 of UDHR)

PRINCES KATHERINE C. VERGARA- LLB 1 TERM PAPER ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Submitted by: Princes Katherine C. Vergara LLB-I

_____________________________ International Council on Human Rights Policy (Significance of Article 29 of UDHR)